¿Dónde están las científicas en los artículos de investigación?/Where are the female scientists in research articles?

Un equipo de la Universidad de Extremadura (UEX) acaba de confirmar en una investigación que publica la revista Scientometrics lo que para una parte de la comunidad científica era una evidencia: hay un desequilibrio exagerado entre la visibilidad de los científicos y las científicas. Sólo el 20% de los artículos estudiados tienen a mujeres como autoras principales, mientras que el porcentaje de hombres es del 50%. El porcentaje restante está ocupado por autores de otras universidades.
“El porcentaje de documentos en los que intervienen mujeres respecto a la autoría total de la producción científica de la UEX es muy baja”, apunta a SINC Vicente Guerrero, investigador principal del estudio y profesor titular de la Facultad de Biblioteconomía y Documentación de la UEX. Los resultados de este trabajo aparecen en el último número de la revista Scientometrics.
Tanto en el cómputo general de los artículos, como en la contabilización de las posiciones de mayor relevancia, las diferencias entre hombres y mujeres son patentes. Las mujeres ocupan entre 10% y 15% de la autoría total de los artículos analizados, entre un 12% y un 20% en la primera posición, y entre el 6% y el 17% en la última posición, mientras que sus homólogos masculinos ocupan entre el 35% y 50% con respecto al total de los artículos, entre 44% y 62% en la primera posición, y entre el 43% y el 58% en la última posición.
“Las mujeres se han incorporado a la investigación con un cierto retraso con respecto a los hombres, y han desarrollado o están desarrollando sus tesis doctorales, pero siguen sin estar presentes en la dirección de las obras, ya sea por este retraso en la incorporación o debido a otras obligaciones que permiten menos dedicación”, apunta el investigador.
Por áreas científicas, las Ciencias de Salud son el ámbito en el que las mujeres ocupan -en mayor medida- la primera posición en la autoría de los artículos, con un porcentaje del 20%, seguido por las Ciencias Básicas con un 18%. Pero en Ingeniería y Arquitectura, sólo el 7% de las obras tienen una mujer como primera autora. Respecto a la última posición, de nuevo las Ciencias de la Salud muestran las mejores cifras con más de 13%, seguido de las Ciencias Básicas (10%) e Ingeniería y Arquitectura (9%).

Nota: Las mujeres que ilustran este post fueron ignoradas por la comunidad científica

A recent research article published in the journal Scientometrics by a team from the University of Extremadura (UEX) has proved something that was already obvious to its scientific community - the extreme imbalance between the visibility of its male and female scientists. Only 20% of the university's articles studied had female lead authors, while the percentage of male lead authors stood at 50%. The remaining articles were led by authors from other universities.
"The percentage of documents with female involvement is very low when compared to the overall authorship of scientific production at the UEX", Vicente Guerrero, lead researcher of the study and a professor in the Faculty of Biblioteconomics and Documentation at UEX, tells SINC. The results of this work have been published in the latest issue of the journal Scientometrics.
The differences between men and women are clear, both in the overall number of articles published and in the count of the most important research positions according to gender. Women account for between 10% and 15% of overall authorship of the articles studied, between 12% and 20% of lead authors and between 6% and 17% of last-position signatories, while their male counterparts account for between 35% and 50% in terms of the total number of articles produced, between 44% and 62% of lead authors and between 43% and 58% of last-position signatories.
"Women have experienced a certain lag in getting involved in research in comparison with men, and have produced or are working on their doctoral theses, but still do not have much presence in terms of leading research work, whether because of this delay or other obligations that prevent them from dedicating so much to research", the researcher points out.
When broken down by scientific areas, Health Sciences account for the highest number of women leading the signing of articles, with a percentage of 20%, followed by Basic Sciences, at 18%. However, women account for only 7% of the lead authors of research work in Engineering and Architecture. In terms of the final signatory position, the highest figures for women are once again in Health Sciences, at more than 13%, followed by Basic Sciences (10%) and Engineering and Architecture (9%).

Note: The women shown in the post were forgotten by the scientific community

Tomado de Plataforma SINC Versión española/English version

Resumen de la publicación/Abstract of the paper
Visibility and responsibility of women in research papers through the order of signatures: the case of the University of Extremadura, 1990–2005
VICENTE P. GUERRERO-BOTE, ROCÍO GÓMEZ-CRISÓSTOMO, LUZ MARÍA ROMO-FERNÁNDEZ, FÉLIX DE MOYA-ANEGÓN
Scientometrics, Vol. 81, No. 1 (2009) 225–238
DOI: 10.1007/s11192-009-2122-3
Abstract: Though there are many and diverse opinions as to the order in which the authors appear in research papers, the most accepted is the one which gives more responsibility to the first and last author. In this work, a study is carried out of the order in which the authors appear in research papers, in which at least one author affiliated to the University of Extremadura (Spain) has collaborated in the 1990–2005 period. The objective is to determine the difference in the position of men and women, and the resulting responsibility and visibility of female authors as opposed to male authors. In the University of Extremadura these positions are principally occupied by men, since throughout the period studied, no more than 20% of the papers have women either in the first or last position, while the percentage obtained by men is around 50%, the remaining percentage being occupied by authors not belonging at present to the Uex. Nevertheless, the women of the University of Extremadura have both a higher percentage than expected and a positive evolution in the more relevant positions in recent years.